1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly, to an improvement in a camera provided with a feature for preventing a red-eye phenomenon occurring in flash photography.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a person is photographed with flash light, where the distance between the optical axis of a flash unit and the optical axis of a photographic lens is close, a so-called read-eye phenomenon often occurs. This is because flash light directly reflected by a retina of an object exposes a film. Particularly, when the person is in a dark surrounding, and the pupils of the person are open, the red-eye phenomenon tends to occur. Recently, the number of flash unit integrated with a camera has increased, so that the distance between the optical axis of the flash unit and the optical axis of the photographic lens is close, and the likelihood of the red-eye phenomenon tends to increase.
In order to prevent this red-eye phenomenon, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Sho 52-80120 discloses a technique for reducing the red-eye phenomenon wherein a lamp is turned on for a predetermined time before an exposure operation to close the pupils of the person being photographed.
However, with the technique disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Sho 52-80120, since a user is not informed that the exposure operation is prevented while the lamp is turned on, the user may regard the camera failing as being broken. In addition, the user cannot know how long it will take before the exposure operation is allowed.